My very first attempt at Life Drawing

Lolo and I went to a life drawing session at a gallery in Toorak Road last Thursday. 

Never tried charcoal for drawing before and I don't really know a lot about drawing (what more - perspectives and anatomy) so I thought starting with the human form could be quite traumatic and demotivating for a beginner - anticipating that it would end up looking like some fruit or a shelf but I'm quite satisfied with the output. Haha.

For the first quarter of the session, the model was just doing 10-15 second poses to get us comfortable and familiar with forms/negative spaces etc.

These drawings were from the 10-15 minute poses. Couldn't get the proportions right - it was hard!! But a lot of fun nonetheless. :)


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Choc & Coco Truffles

Nothing much to do on a Saturday night so I decided to make these.

A little revelation: crushing biscuits with a pestle is a very effective stress-reliever and rolling chocolate mixture into balls using the palms of your hands could be very therapeutic too - especially if you've got Corinne Bailey Rae playing in the background =)

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Rally For Relief

My first time to watch the Tennis LIVE and FEDERER and NADAL were there!!

Tennis superstars gathered the day before the start of Australian Open for a special exhibition to raise funds for the victims of the Queensland flood.

We've already parted when I realised  that Leah and I didn't have any photos taken with my uni friends - Cheska and Stella who Leah had met for the first time! D'oh. Next time. :)

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Feeling like a tourist in a rather familiar city

A friend from my home church in the Philippines moved to Melbourne with her whole family last November.

Johann and I met up last Saturday on a perfect summer weather. Johann is 2 years my junior and at a glance she might appear to be an innocent young lady but wait 'til you listen to her speak and you would only sense overflowing wisdom from her college experiences; confidence and steadfast faith brought by the full knowledge of the goodness of Jesus.

I had a strong feeling of reminiscence the entire time I was speaking to Johann. She sounded a lot like me 4 and a half years ago when I came to this new city - leaving behind my ministry, my love, my family, friends and all the comfortable familiarity.

Looking back, I can only praise God for allowing me to see that although I am but a small entity in this big universe, nothing I do or don't do is insignificant - that there are so many different rich cultures to explore and learn from - that away from the familiar, we can only grow and be strengthened if we dwell in the shadow of His grace and love. 

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Joie de Vivre

I couldn't proceed to make any other posts without an account of the events in the past couple of weeks.

After six long years in university, I finally graduated!!

We had our work Christmas party at the Moonee Valley Racecourse. Horse races are so huge in Melbourne but this was only my first time to go.

Melbourne will always be more fun, with my lovely parents and Ate around.

The 3 week-old Sunny (Jon and Jassie's new car) had her first big adventure trip - a 10-hour drive to Sydney! Jon was still recuperating from his knee surgery so it was only Jassie and I, who took turns in the long drive... well and a 15-minute contribution from Ate, which kept us all WIDE AWAKE! Haha.

My second (or third?) time to spend Christmas in Sydney! Tito Edgard and Tita Yollie hosted us in their beautiful home.

I'm still trying (and struggling big-time) to recover from the all the calories I gorged the last holidays. Aarghh. 

Family get-together and superb food at PJ & Leisl's and Kuya Roy & Ate Sally's homes.

The lights in St Mary's Cathedral almost moved me to tears. The photo doesn't give justice to the gorgeous feature they had especially for Christmas. The lights change in synch with very soothing music.

My first time to see so many people in a shopping centre here in Aussie... only on Boxing Day Sale!

We got back in Melbourne on the 28th of December and mum and dad flew back to the Philippines on New Years Day.

Our first dinner of 2011 was with the stunning Melbourne city scenery from Sky High, Mount Dandenong.

I don't know if it's watching the movie outdoors, under the moon and the stars that made me like it but I reckon Eat Pray Love wasn't bad at all! I really thought the scenes in Italy were pretty good. :)

A delectable breakfast at Port Melbourne, exploring Luna Park and St Kilda with my sisters and lolo.

Now that they have gone back to the Philippines, everything's resumed to normality.

We've all returned to work and I'm now again to face the occasional occurrences of piercing homesickness.  

But it is knowing what lies ahead - having experienced beautiful moments like the past couple of weeks - that keeps me going, always looking forward and convinced that the pretty-average will end with the start of another hearty affair.   

So as I bid goodbye to 2010, the year that was; I embrace 2011 with arms wide-open. I feel really good about this year. It's Edward's turn to finish college, we'll be 10 years in May ♥, and I'll be 5 years in Australia in July!! How time really flies!!




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